So what makes good practice?

Good practice is not always planned or obvious. Here are some examples of what happens at Child First.

A friend (musician) came to one of our nurseries... She got her accordion out (without anybody knowing) and just came into the construction area - playing as she came.

The team member working with the children had never met her - nor knew why she was there. What she then did was brilliant - she took three steps back and allowed the children to engage with this new experience. She then worked for a while with the children who were less interested (as they were busy chasing crocodiles).

Eventually all of the children had become interested, so she observed some more and finally asked the children if she could join in...

The session lasted over two hours and lots of stories and songs were created and remembered. You can see the video of the first few minutes here.

Spontaneous - no demands made of the children, only opportunities - observation not intrusive interference.

And when I introduced Fafu to the children - the instruction manual was given to the staff team... "Place the Fafu resources out and allow the children to explore without interference" and that's what happened - and the older children helped the younger ones and the 'session' lasted way past tea time - so we had tea late......

Open ended, outdoor, imaginative, non intrusive play at its best.

You can see videos of the children seeing Fafu for the first time, beginning to explore it and finally collaborating and playing!

-Tom